A record number of UK properties have taken advantage of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) incentive scheme to install sources of renewable power, data from the energy regulator Ofgem reveals.
And despite being one of the coldest years on record, the official statistics confirm a 10-fold increase in the expansion in solar power in the UK last year.
However, the news could lead to uncertainty in the market after the government threatened to revise the cash-for clean energy programme if installations exceeded its forecasts.
The figure show the equivalent of a 38-turbine, utility-sized wind farm is now connected to the national grid with 17,557 FiT-registered installations generating a combined total of 57.6 megawatts of clean energy.
Of these new renewable sites, 16,375 were registered with the programme as photovoltaic solar panels, 1,007 wind turbines, 157 hydro sites and 18 micro CHPs.
The solar panel market could now become a victim of its own success as the government could be tempted to rebalance the market demand and place greater incentives with wind and reduce the payback for solar.
Solar panels, which according to the figures, have a total capacity to generate more than 42.5 megawatts of electricity, are registered to receive between 29.3p and 41.3p per kilowatt hour of energy generated.
Although source of renewable wind energy on average generate more energy, their total output was only 10.7 megawatts, according to the figures released this week.
The statistics also revealed the FiT scheme was most popular in the south east of England with the region recording 3,595 registrations, followed closely by the south west with 3,244 installations.
The East Midlands recorded 1,453, East of England 2,272, London 801, the North East 332, North West 884, West Midlands 1,121 and the Yorkshire and Humber area 2,297.
The Ofgem figures also showed 4.3 megawatts of hydro-power were registered to benefit from the tariffs from their introduction in April through December.
The guaranteed prices were introduced by the Labour government before it lost the general election last May. The new coalition government, in an October review of spending across all departments, said it would maintain the tariffs until a review in 2013.
The tariffs are guaranteed for 25 years and vary according to capacity and whether panels are fitted to old buildings or new ones.
Source: Click Green
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